Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-05-04
A DESERT RAILROAD.
FROM THE CASPIAN SEA TO THE
OxUS RIVER.
Over Six Thousand Miles of Track
Through the shifting SaDds-How a
Diffieult Problem Was solved-The
Water Supply.

Through the shifting SaDds-How a
Diffcuit Problem Was soIved-The
Water Supply.
Several interesting problems in railroad
buildmg have been solved by the completion
of the transcaspian road from the Caspian
sea to Anu Daria or Oxus river This road
is unique in the fact that it is the only railroad
III the world which runs through the moving
sands of the desert Here and there along
the $50 miles of completed track the road
passes through regions covered by sand so
fine that the slightest wind moves it.
About 200 miles of the road run through these
sands. Some eminent engineers asserted that
a railroad could not be maintained amid these
wastes. Gen. Tchernaieff said it would lie
Necessary TO build side walls all the way and
he condemned the entire scheme, urging
against it all the objections that had pre-
viously been RAISED i'll France against the pro
posed transsalIaran railroad.
The difficulties were certainly great, but it
seems Likely that Gen. Annenkoff will achieve
complete triumph over the croakers who
asserted that ali his railroad cuttings would
become chokcd with sand, and that his enl-
employed different expedients on different
parts of the road to solve the problem of
drifting sand. On some long stretches of
desert road he has covered his enbankments
with a layer of clay or saline earth, and
these that were built in tbs way a year and
4 half ago have as yet suffered no deteriora-
tion.
DESERT SHKCBS AND PLANTS.
In other places he has strengthened his en-
bankments by placing in them at intervals
| layers of the branches of desert shrub
which he found i'll abundance. The emhank-
ments Of this sort between Merry and the
Oxus have stood mimpaired up to the present
/ time. He Is also extensively cultivatinG
| along the track desert shrubs and plants,
whose roots retain the sand. This spring a
large amount of grass seed Is to be sown and
many thousands of shrubs are to be planted
The question OF providing water ill these
| desert REGIONS was no less difficult than that
of protecting and preserving tine road bed
That question has been triumphantly solved
| Water for the locomotives and stations along
the first 2lD miles of the road is brought in
| pipes from the mountains that run parallel
! with the road for u long distance After the
I track turns northeast away from the noun
/ talnS to so to Merry, the waters of the TejeId
/ and Murghab rivers are led i'll conduits or
| canals to the various stations. and between
| Merv and the 0Xus very careful researches
| have led to the discovery of suhterranean
waters and wells atfording sufficient supply
| have been opened
| Another important question involved in
! this unique experiment of desert railroading
] bg,,, T.
been opened between the Caspian and the
| Oxus, in region where the cold is often ex-
| IRENE and where there is "a total lack OF fuel
/ Petroleum has been the means of solving this
/ problem. 1t not only furnishes the motive
power for the transcaSpian railroad. but in
/ all the stations and il the little towns that
have sprms az along the route the building:
I warmed and food Is cooked by means OF
/ petroleum stoves of Russian invention-New
| York Sun